Talking Tuesday: Swinney preps to honor seniors “who have brought a lot of joy” to his life (AUDIO)

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney addresses the media ahead of the Tigers’ contest against Duke.

The Clemson Tigers embark on an atypical senior day with a conference opponent as opposed to an FC buy-game, but Head Coach Dabo Swinney couldn’t think of a more fitting tribute to a group that has helped dramatically transform the culture of Clemson football.

The players who will be honored Saturday at Death Valley have the chance to set a new ACC record for wins by a class (51) eclipsing last year’s Clemson senior class with that feat. They’re also the only senior class that has won an ACC Division Title in every year of eligibility and can top that with a conference championship in every year with a win in two weeks in Charlotte.

Clemson will honor 29 members of the current roster and four medically retired players who have already graduated or are expected to graduate this school year.

While Swinney says all senior days are hard, he believes this class in particular will be one of the most difficult to let go:

Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence threw his ACC-leading 19th TD pass despite being a part-time player his first four games. (Travis Bell/File Photo)

While last week’s contest against Boston College represented its closest margin of victory in a month and a half, Clemson has run roughshod through most of its schedule save for a couple of close calls.

This performance has gone on to prove Swinney’s comments from before the season about this being the deepest team he’s had Clemson.

Swinney has played the entire 72-person travel squad in three of the five road games this season, and played 63 players in last week’s 20-point victory at Boston College.

On the surface it would seem the Tigers have not undergone as much adversity of late, but Swinney believes they’ve sustained enough to prepare them for the stretch drive: